<span style="color: #222222;">Health Ministry today said media reports claiming LIC IPO Data confirming massive death numbers in 2021 are speculative and not factual. It termed the media report as a flawed interpretation saying it reveals lack of understanding of how COVID deaths in India are collated and published daily in public domain since the beginning of pandemic.<br />''<br />''The Ministry said India has a very transparent and efficient system of reporting COVID-19 deaths. Right from the Gram Panchayat level to the District level and the State level, the process of reporting deaths is monitored and carried out transparently.<br />''<br />''With the sole objective of reporting deaths in a transparent manner, Centre has adopted a globally recognised categorization to classify COVID deaths. Compilation of the total deaths in India is undertaken by the Centre based on the independent reporting by the States.<br />''<br />''Government has time and again exhorted states to periodically update their mortality figures as this exercise would accentuate the efforts of Public Health response to COVID by giving a true picture of the pandemic.<br />''<br />''Health Ministry also noted that there is an added incentive in India to report COVID deaths as it entitles one to monetary compensation. It said jumping on any conclusion regarding underreporting of deaths is tantamount to mere speculation and conjecturing.</span><br />''<br />